Aila fuels Indo-Bangla border smuggling in Sunderbans

Soon after the clock strikes midnight, the muddy roads on the Indo-Bangla border, at Sahebkhali in Sunderbans, become busy with trains of cattle being herded on a secret journey culminating in Bangladesh where they will be slaughtered for shipment as processed beef.

The border at Chanralkhali village here on the bank of Kalindi river which separates Bangladesh and India has been a witness to the smuggling of truckloads of cattle from Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for some time now.

Ever since Cyclone Aila devastated the deltas and hit the Border Security Force (BSF) by damaging patrolling boats and breaching embankments and roads, there has been a manifold increase in smuggling aided by hapless villagers.

"A recent spate in smuggling by villagers has put BSF jawans on high alert," says a jawan on duty at the border village, 100 km from Kolkata.

The cyclone has destroyed all means of livelihood for 1.6 lakh people of Hingalganj by damaging houses and rendering fields saline. Sights of devastation are evident everywhere.

BSF jawans say smugglers have taken advantage of the situation by engaging hapless villagers into smuggling cattle, bidi, garments and drugs at night. A local doctor, Arunodoy Mondal says the smuggling has been damaging the future prospects of youth by providing them easy money and keeping them away from studies.

The issue of cattle trade came up in sector-level border guards meeting of the BSF and their Bangladeshi counterparts, Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) after the cyclone.

BDR never takes action against the cattle smugglers as they consider them as "cattle traders" to which BSF says that India does not sell them and trade cannot take place at midnight, a BSF officer says.